The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-04-12
TENEMENT CIGARS.
SicKENiNG SCENES AMONG THE
CITY'S CIGARMAKERS-

Helen CampbeiIs Story of the Children
at Work Iva the Tenement Houses of
New York--Di-esse and Death in the
Leaf
II is TO the cigar making trade that
women and girls turn during the dull
season, and one finds i'll il Representatives
from every trade in which women are en-
gaged. The sewing women employed in
suit and clothing manufacturers during
tie busy season have no resource save
this, and thus prices are kept down and
the regular CilJsrmakers constantly re-
enforced by the irregular. In the present
case it was chiefly with regular makers
that the house was filed, one room, a
little less than twelve by fourteen feet,
holding family of seven persons, three
Of them children under 10. all girls. t.
baccO lay in piles ON tie fioOr and under
the long table at one end where TIC cigars
were rolled, its rank sTIeil dominating
that from the sinks and frOIn the general
filth, not only Of this room but Of the
house as n whole. Two Of the children
sat On the floor stripping the leaves. and
another on IA small stool. y girl of 20 sat
near them, aud all alike had sores on lips
and checks and ON tie hands
TIE LITTLE ToTs AT WORK
Children from , or q years up can be
taught To strip and thus add TO the week 8
Income which Is far les for the tenement
.hoUsc manufacture than for regular fac
tory work the latter averaging from IS
10 Sl2 week. But the work if done at
home can lie made to include the entire
family and some 4. Loo women are engaged
in il, an almost equal but Unregistered
number of young children sharing it with
them. AS in sewing, a number of women
often club together, using one room. and
in such eases their babies crawl about in
the filth on the wet floors, playing with
tie damp tobacco and breathing the poison
with which the room j. saturated
Here, as in tobacco factories, women
and girls OF every age become speedily tho
victims of nervous and hysterical CON-
plants, the direct result of nicotine poi
souing, while succccain., these come con-
sumption and throat diseases resulting
from the dust. Ca.ikcr l. one Of the most
frequent difficulties, and sores of many
orders, the trade involving more dangers
than any that can he chosen. Yet because
an entire family can find occupation in ii,
with no necessity for leaving home, it is
often preferred to easier employment. 1t
is the children who suffer most, growth
being stunted, nervous disease developed
and ending often in So Nitus' dance, and
skin diseases of every order being tho rule,
filth iii which they live.
THE POISON or PREPARATION.
IL is doubtful if the most inveterate
smoker would feel much relish for tho
cigar manufactured under such condi-
lions. yet hundreds of thousands go out
yearly from these houses, bearing in every
leaf the poison OF their preparation In
this one house nearly thirty children of all
ages and sizes, babies predOminating,
rolled in the tobacco which covered the
floor and was piled in every direction, and
of these children under 10 thirteen were
shippers and did their days work Of
ten hours and more Physical degenera-
ton in its worst forms become inevitable.
Even the factory childworkcr fares better,
for in the factory there is exercise and the
going 70 and from work, while III the ten
ernent house cigar making the worn out
little creatures crawl To the bed, often
only pile of rags III the corner, or lie
down on a heap of the tobacco itself,
breathing the poison day and night unin-
teTTUptedly.
Vices of every order flourish in such air,
and morality in this trade i at the lowest
ebD. Nervous excitement ia so intense
that necessarily nothing but immortality
can result, and the child of or 10 is as
gross and confirmed an offender as the full
grown man or woman DiIigent search
discovers few exceptions to this rule and
the whole matter has reached a stage
where legislative interference is absolutely
indispensable Only in forbiddiug tene-
rnent house manufacture absolutely can
there be any safety for either consumer or
producer.-lIelen Campbell i'll New York
Tribune.